Matt Hamill
Matt Hamill is deaf. Oh, and he's also a light-heavyweight mixed martial artist. Hamill was a competitor on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. He might have won the show versus the eventual winner, Michael Bisping, had he not sustained an injury and been forced to withdraw from the tournament. He later faced Bisping in the UFC and lost one of the most controversial decisions in MMA history. He also holds the sole 'win' over prospect Jon Jones by disqualification. He most recently faced off against Keith Jardine in what some percieved as a loser-leaves-town matchup, at least in Jardine's case. He defeated Jardine by a very controversial majority decision. Jardine was cut a few days later. Hamill next faced former light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, who was his good friend. Hamill dominated Ortiz en route to a unanimous decision victory. He was next set to face another undefeated prospect in Phil Davis, but the fight was mysteriously called off about two months early. Jason Brilz replaced Hamill against Davis. Hamill was then switched to face former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson. Jackson defeated Hamill via dominant unanimous decision. Shortly afterwards, Hamill agreed to step in on short notice to replace an injured Vladimir Matyushenko against Alexander Gustaffson. The Swede Gustafsson defeated Hamill via brutal second-round TKO. After the bout, Hamill retired from the sport shocking many fans. Hamill returned in August 2012 after nearly a year, signing to face fellow veteran Vladimir Matyushenko. Matyushenko was injured and replaced by UFC newcomer Roger Hollett. Hamill defeated Hollett via unanimous decision. After a layoff of over a year, Hamill next fought veteran Thiago Silva. Despite showing impressive improvements in his striking early Hamill soon gassed and stood in front of Silva taking punishing leg kicks en route to a split decision loss. Hamill was then cut from the UFC. World Series of Fighting In May 2014 Hamill signed with the World Series of Fighting promotion. Instead Hamill retired from mixed martial arts after a ten year career due to nagging injuries two months later at the start of July 2014. He discussed, in late 2014, returning to fight in Bellator in a rematch against Quinton Jackson. The fight never materialized. Hamill renewed his WSOF contract instead and signed to make his official debut against former M-1 light-heavyweight champ and fellow former UFC veteran and newcomer Vinny Magalhaes. Magalhaes defeated Hamill via a first round kneebar submission. Venator Hamill next moved to Venator FC, making his debut against fellow UFC veteran Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Sokoudjou knocked out Hamill in just thirty-seven seconds. Fights *Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill - The fight was one of the most controversial decisions in UFC and indeed MMA history. Both men came in undefeated and the fight was Hamill's first... official defeat at least. *Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch - Tim Boetsch came into the fight on ten days notice to replace an injured Stephan Bonnar. *Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill - Franklin defeated the highly-touted wrestler Hamill by technical knockout due to a punishing kick delivered straight to the liver following up with punches. *Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz - The fight was the UFC debut of Mark Munoz and it was also his first loss. The fight was at light-heavyweight and afterwards, Munoz dropped down to middleweight. *Jon Jones vs. Matt Hamill - Jon Jones came into the fight undefeated. He had an eight-and-a-half inch reach advantage and a three-inch height advantage. The fight ended in a controversial disqualification win for Hamill and the first "loss" of Jones's career. *Keith Jardine vs. Matt Hamill - The fight was Keith Jardine's fourth consecutive loss. Hamill came into the fight with a bad staph infection and broke his left hand in the first round. After the fight, Jardine was cut from the UFC. *Matt Hamill vs. Tito Ortiz *Alexander Gustafsson vs. Matt Hamill - Hamill retired after the fight for a year. He was a late replacement. *Vinny Magalhaes vs. Matt Hamill - The fight was the WSOF debut of both men. Category:American fighters Category:Light-heavyweight fighters Category:World Series of Fighting fighters Category:Retired fighters